Sick Caitlin
by Banana Belle
Summary: Caitlin is making some choices some good, some bad. Last Chapter added. *Completed*
1. Chapter 1

"Caitlin? Caitlin! Caitlin, get up your going to be late for school. Dori Lowe opened the door to Caitlin's room.  
  
"Yeah, yeah, I'm getting up," Caitlin grumbled.  
  
Just as Caitlin got out of bed the floor started to spin. Something wasn't right, but she put on a pair of jeans and a shirt. She walked down the stairs. Her head was pounding, the floor was below her was spinning. She fell down the last three steps.  
  
"Caitlin, are you all right?" Griffin asks. He runs over to see if she's hurt.  
  
"What's going on?" a half-shaved Jim asks.  
  
"Caitlin fell, and she looks like she's going to blow chunks." Griffin answers.  
  
"Thank you for the description Griffin," Dori tells her son. Dori helps Caitlin for the floor; she put her hand against Caitlin's forehead. "Caitlin you need to go back to bed." Dori helps Caitlin to her room and then comes down stairs.  
  
"Jim what are we going to do?" Dori asks, now in the kitchen.  
  
"About what?" Jim asks.  
  
"About Caitlin," she says. "I'm leaving for the veterinary conference in Chicago this morning. She can't stay home by herself."  
  
" And I'm not baby-sitting her," Griffin mumbles, his mouth full of bagel.  
  
"That leaves me. The sheriff, the law enforcement of this town," Jim lectures on.  
  
"Dad give it at rest," Griffin says. "Nothing interesting ever happens in Highriver."  
  
"Well, I guess the law can suffer. Caitlin came come with me to work. There's a couch in my office," Jim says.  
  
"You'll need to take her to the doctor too. I'll make an appointment before I leave, Dori says. "Griffin, you better go or you'll be late for school."  
  
"Yeah, I wouldn't want to be late or the law enforcement might get me for being truant," Griffin laughs at the last part. He grabs his backpack and heads for his car.  
  
"I'll need to head into work soon," Jim tells his wife.  
  
"Caitlin's appointment is at 10:30. Don't forget," Dori orders.  
  
Dori goes upstairs, where Caitlin is asleep.  
  
"Caitlin," she says softly.  
  
"What?" Caitlin mumbles.  
  
"You need to get up. Jim is taking you to work with him."  
  
"Great," Caitlin groans.  
  
"Come on, I'll help you finish getting ready," Dori says gently.  
  
A few minutes later, Dori and still sickly looking Caitlin emerge. Dori help Caitlin downstairs and out to Jim's Jeep. Caitlin gets in, and Dori closes the door.  
  
"Ready?" Jim asks Caitlin.  
  
"I didn't even know you were in here," she says.  
  
Jim puts the Jeep in drive a heads into town. When they arrive, he parks in the spot marked Logan County Sheriff. He gets out and goes to the other to help Caitlin out of the car. They two walk into the sheriff department. Jim points to the couch.  
  
"You can sleep for about 2 hours, then we have to go to the doctor," he tells her.  
  
Caitlin says nothing, she just lays down and closes her eyes. Jim watches her he's worried. Like he used to worry when Griffin was younger and had fever. She looks so helpless. He turns to his desk and begins to work. 


	2. Chapter 2

*Very short. I think I know where I'm going with this, but I'm not sure when I'll make the change. I can't reveal it, but I think it's good.  
  
  
  
"Caitlin," Jim gentle shook Caitlin's shoulder.  
  
"mmmhhh," Caitlin moaned. Her head was pounding it hurt worse than earlier.  
  
"We need to go to see Dr. Allen now," Jim told her.  
  
"Do I have to?" she asked.  
  
"Yeah, come on it won't be that bad."  
  
Caitlin sat up she brushed back her hair with her hands. "Why?" she thought, "Why do I have to spend the day with him."  
  
"Excuse me," Caitlin said. She ran to the bathroom where she threw up. "This is one of the worst days ever." This she said out loud to herself.  
  
Jim knocked on the door. "Are you okay?" he asked.  
  
"I'm fine," she said. "I'm just fine." Caitlin opened the door. "Why are you looking at me like that?" she demanded.  
  
"Like what?" Jim asked.  
  
"I don't like how you're looking at me, stop it. It's creepy." Caitlin headed towards the door and Jim followed her.  
  
At the doctor's office, the receptionist told Caitlin to do right in, and the doctor would be with her soon. Jim took a seat in the waiting room. He looked at the magazine selection, Women's Day, Teen, Jack and Jill, a last a two-year-old issue of Handyman. He appeared to be reading with great interest although his thoughts were still on Caitlin.  
  
"Jim?" Caitlin interrupted his thoughts. "Um, you need to go to see the receptionist about payment."  
  
"Yeah," he got up and handed the woman the necessary cards and forms.  
  
"This will do, you can get the prescription filled over at the drug store," she told him.  
  
"Right," he walked over to Caitlin. "So what was wrong?" he asked.  
  
"Oh, doctor Allen thinks it's just a bacteria infection. He gave me the prescription, see." She waved a pink paper.  
  
"Let's get that filled then we can get some lunch," Jim told her.  
  
Caitlin thought to herself, "Boy do I love Dr. Allen. The only one I know who can't tell if I'm hung over. Good thing there was some little bacteria infection in my throat or Dori and Jim would have never bought it. I better not party like that for awhile. Will, will be disappointed, but he'll get over it."  
  
"Why don't you just wait here," Jim told her when he found a parking spot.  
  
"Okay."  
  
Jim went inside.  
  
Caitlin thinks again "Good thing Griffin wasn't there or I would have been busted. But he wasn't so I wasn't. Boy I like being bad."  
  
Jim came back, he had a small bag with him. They drove to the Diner, where Jim went in and orders two turkey sandwiches to go. He paid for them and went back to the car. At the Sheriff's office Caitlin only eats half her sandwich, than goes back to sleep. Jim begins to sort through a stack of papers. 


	3. Chapter 3

Thank you for reviewing, when I saw that I had 3 reviews in one day I got this huge grin on my face. I'm having a little trouble with this story. I'm not really sure where to go next. I don't know when I will add another chapter, because I shouldn't even be writing this one. If you have any ideas post them, email or IM me.  
  
(Later at the Lowe Ranch)  
  
"Dad, Mr. Smith gave me a D on my english paper. That was like the best paper I've ever written," Griffin rambled on.  
  
"Does this have a point Griff?" a tired Jim asked.  
  
"Yeah, I want you to complain!" Griffin demanded.  
  
"Let me see the paper," Jim said.  
  
Griffin pulled the paper out of his backpack. Jim looked it over, reading Mr. Smith's comments on the last page.  
  
"Griffin you didn't even write about the assigned topic," Jim commented.  
  
"So?"  
  
"Well, I agree with Mr. Smith, this paper doesn't desrive anything higher than a D."  
  
"Thanks for nothing." With that Griffin stormed out of the house.  
  
Caitiln wanders into the room.  
  
"You want something to eat?" Jim asked her.  
  
"No, not right now," Caitlin tells him.  
  
The phone rings and Jim goes to answer it. "Caitlin it's for you." He handed her the phone.  
  
"Hello?" She said.  
  
"Sup?" a voice answered.  
  
"Oh, hey Will," the last word she says quitely so Jim doesn't hear.  
  
"Do you wanna go out tonight?" He asked.  
  
"I'm still not feeling well from last night," she said.  
  
"So, do you want to or not?" He asked.  
  
"Sure, same time, same place," she said.  
  
"I'll be there." Will hangs up first.  
  
Caitlin set the phone down and went upstairs. 


	4. Chapter 4

*I know some people like Jim and Caitlin being on good terms. Trust me I too, but if the story kept going like that it would have been super boring. I'll keep writing, and you keep reviewing.  
  
  
  
Caitlin sat on her bed; the sun was setting in her window.  
  
"I'm so confused!" She said to herself. Caitlin reached under her bed and pulled out a shoebox that had she had covered with decoupage along time ago. Inside there were some pictures of Bandit and other things that were special to her. Under all the clutter, she found what she had been looking for, her journal. It was shiny silver, she had added purple stars with glitter. Caitlin skimmed the few entries that were there. She flipped to a blank page and began to write.  
  
I can't believe I'm going back to my old ways. Why? Why am I doing this? Is it for Will? I love Will. I feel great when I'm parting, but afterwards I feel like crap. I feel useless as if I don't matter. If Dori and Jim find out they might disown me. For real, not that "oh, my family isn't going to love me junk on TV." There has to be a way out. That is it Caitlin Seager, get yourself together. No more parties, or anything that is bad for you. You don't want to be caught.  
  
Caitlin put the journal away and put the box back under her bed. She tries to call Will, but he wasn't.  
  
"Great, I'll still have to go meet him."  
  
Caitlin spent the rest of the evening watching a movie. Griffin had gone out with friends, and Jim had gone back to work for awhile. When the movie was over, she went up to her room. She set the alarm for 1:00am. She climbed under the covers and drifted off to sleep.  
  
"Beep, Beep, Beep."  
  
Caitlin quickly shut the alarm off and crept down the stairs. She unlocked the door. Jim's car was there, that was good. She closed the door quietly and started walking. It took about 20 minutes to get to her and Will's spot. She could have ridden Bandit, but it was to much of a risk.  
  
"Hey!" The greeting was followed by a kiss.  
  
"Hey, you are the best kisser," Caitlin said sweetly.  
  
"Yeah, that's what all the girls say." Will said, as he grinned.  
  
"I'm sure they do," Caitlin said sappily.  
  
The couple held each other for a few moments in silence.  
  
"Ready?" Will asked.  
  
"About that, Will I can't do this anymore. I love spending time with you but not like this," Caitlin pleaded.  
  
"What are we supposed to do than? Take a walk in the park?" Will asked.  
  
"We could go riding. There is tons of stuff we can do that doesn't evolve me sneaking out." Caitlin looked into Will's eyes. "I love you."  
  
"I love you, too. As much as I like parting it wouldn't be any fun if you weren't there. Caitlin can I ask you something?" Will spoke from his heart.  
  
"Ask away."  
  
"Do you want to go to the next level in this relationship?" Will asked.  
  
"You mean sex?"  
  
"Yes, it doesn't even have to be real sex if you're not ready." Will said.  
  
"I don't know. I have to go. We need to talk about this." Caitlin said.  
  
"When? Set a time I'll meet you here, there, anywhere, Will said.  
  
"How about tomorrow after school?" Caitlin asked. We can go riding."  
  
"Sounds great, see you tomorrow. No, I mean later today. He said remembering what time it was.  
  
"See ya." With that Caitlin headed for home. When she got close to the Lowe ranch, she saw that lights were on downstairs.  
  
"Shit," she murmured to herself. 


	5. All is well that ends well

"Caitlin where have you been?" Jim demands.  
  
"I went for a walk," Caitlin says.  
  
"At 2:30 in the morning. You're going to have to up with a better excuse than that." Jim tells her.  
  
"I couldn't sleep so I decided to go for a walk," Caitlin says coolly.  
  
"We'll talk about this more in the morning. Go to bed, because there is no way your staying home tomorrow." Jim says in his most authoritative voice.  
  
"Whatever," Caitlin mumbles as she goes to her room. She falls asleep as soon as she hits the bed.  
  
"Beep, Beep, Beep," the alarm clock drowns.  
  
"I that thing so much." Caitlin mutters as she pulls herself of the bed. She turns off the alarm, and tries to decide what she is going to wear. Clothes are scattered all over the room. She finds a clean pair of black pants on the floor, she keeps searching until she finds the perfect shirt. Finally she decides on a white tank top with a star made out of metal studs. She goes down stairs. Jim is making coffee.  
  
"We need to talk," he tells her.  
  
"Fine. Let's talk." Caitlin says.  
  
"Where were you last night?" He asks.  
  
"I told you, I went for a walk."  
  
"Well, if that's the case I'm telling you're grounded." Jim says.  
  
"For how long?" Caitlin blurts out.  
  
"Until I say so," Jim tells her.  
  
"Uh, Jim?" Caitlin asks. "I have something to tell you."  
  
"Go ahead."  
  
"Well, actually I have a few things to tell you. You know how I was sick yesterday?"  
  
"Yes." Jim answers looking confused.  
  
"I wasn't really sick. What I mean is, I was hung over. I went to a party and got drunk, which was a mistake." Caitlin says.  
  
"You're right it was a mistake. Caitlin you know better than to do something like that." Jim starts to lecture.  
  
"Just wait until I'm done then you can talk or yell all you want. Last night I did go for a walk, but it was to meet Will. I told him that I couldn't go to parties anymore."  
  
"Caitlin you're grounded for at least six months, and when Dori gets home we all need to talk." Jim tells her.  
  
Caitlin gets up to go back upstairs.  
  
"And Caitlin…" Jim says.  
  
Caitlin turns around and looks at Jim.  
  
He continues "I'm glad you were honest and told me what you did wrong."  
  
"You know what? I'm happy I told you too." Caitlin says.  
  
  
  
The End!  
  
Sorry it's so short, but I ran out of ideas. Maybe I'll write another story soon. Until then keep reading anything and everything :-) 


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